February 23

Births

1685: George Handel (Composer)

1944: Johnny Winter (Guitarist & Singer)

1946: Rusty Young (Guitar for Poco)

1948: Steve Priest (Bass for Sweet)

1952: Brad Whitford (Rhythm Guitar for Aerosmith)

1955: Howard Jones (Singer / Songwriter)

1958: David Sylvian (Lead Singer for Japan & Solo)

1962: Michael Wilton (Guitar for Queensryche)

1963: Rob Collins (Keyboards for The Charlatans)

1971: Jeff Beres (Bass for Sister Hazel)

1972: Steve Holy (Country Singer)

1979: D-Rock (De'Angelo Holmes) (Rapper in Ying Yang Twins)

Events

1970: 5th Dimension guest star more or less as themselves on tonight's "To Sing a Song of Murder" episode of ABC-TV's drama series It Takes A Thief.

1970: Ringo Starr makes the first solo TV appearance of a Beatle when he appears on NBC's Laugh-In.

1972: Backstage at Elvis Presley's final Vegas show of his latest engagement, wife Priscilla informs him that she's been seeing karate master Mike Stone, whom Elvis introduced to her. The King is furious. The next day, she moves out of Elvis' California home.

1978: At tonight's Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Marvin Gaye wins his very first awards: two for the comeback single "Sexual Healing."

1978: David Coverdale's Whitesnake made their debut at the Sky Bird Club, Nottingham, England.

1979: Dire Straits played their first American show when they appeared in Boston.

1985: Stevie Wonder is among the anti-apartheid protesters arrested in front of Washington DC's South African Embassy, but is soon released.

1989: Isaac Hayes is sentenced to by an Atlanta judge for failing to pay his ex-wife over $346,000 in alimony and child support, but is released upon making a $22,000 down payment.

1990: Reba McEntire has a son, Shelby Stephen Blackstock, at Nashville's West Side Hospital.

1999: Oasis guitarist Paul Arthurs was arrested and jailed overnight for being drunk and disorderly. Police found the guitarist outside a Tommy Hilfiger store in London.

1999: Eminem's first album, "The Slim Shady LP", was released.

2002: The Bee Gees play what turns out to be their final show as a trio, at Miami Beach's Love and Hope Ball.

2002: Counry singer LeAnn Rimes marries dancer Dean Sheremet at the Perkins Chapel in Dallas.

2003: The British tabloid News Of The World claims that Michael Jackson has had a number of painful skin operations to peel his skin white.

2003: Howie Epstein bassist with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers died of a suspected drug overdose in New Mexico.

2003: Norah Jones cleaned up at the 45th Grammy Awards, held at Madison Square Garden, New York. The singer, songwriter won, Album of the year and Record of the year, with 'Don't Know Why.' Song of the year, Best new artist and Best female pop vocal for 'Don't Know Why'.

February 22

Births

1938: Bobby Hendricks (Singer in The Drifters)

1968: Bradley Nowell (Lead Singer & Guitar for Sublime)

1973: Scott Phillips (Drummer for Creed & Alter Bridge)

1974: James Blunt (Singer / Songwriter)

Events

1968: Johnny Cash proposes to June Carter when they perform in London, Ontario. She says yes.

1969: In Britain's Oz Magazine, reviewer Felix Dennis says, of Led Zeppelin's debut album: "Very occasionally a long-playing record is released that defies immediate classification or description, simply because it's so obviously a turning point in rock music that only time proves capable of shifting it into eventual perspective."

1969: Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs make their final public appearance on the Grand Ole Opry before a nasty split.

1976: Florence Ballard (The Supremes) died of cardiac arrest caused by a blood clot in one of her coronary arteries.  She was 32.

1978: The Police appeared in a Wrigley's Chewing Gum commercial for US TV, the band dyed their hair blonde for the appearance.

1978: Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen were arrested in New York and charged with drug possession.

1986: A Fine Young Cannibals concert in Boston was delayed until 2AM because somebody had thrown tear gas into the club.

1987: Andy Warhol died from cardiac arrhythmia after a gall bladder operation at age 58.

1989: A category for Heavy Metal was included at the Grammy Awards for the first time. Metallica performed on stage, but the award went to Jethro Tull. Many audience members booed.  Also, the same year Milli Vanilli won the best new artist award.

1993: Radiohead's first album, "Pablo Honey", was released.

2000: The recently departed soul legend Curtis Mayfield is honored at a First African Methodist Episcopal Church service in Los Angeles, featuring performances from Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, and, spontaneously, Lauryn Hill.

2008: After much controversy and debate over whether or not to honor recently deceased musician and Mississippi native Ike Turner, the state legislature compromises and passes a resolution that honors his musical achievements only.

2010: Johnny Marr was said to be "ecstatic" after getting back one of his guitars which had been stolen in 2000 after a gig at the Scala nightclub in Kings Cross, London. Smiths fan Stephen White told a London court he was "disgusted" with himself for taking the cherry red 1964 Gibson SG when he went backstage after the gig at The Scala.

February 21

Births

1933: Nina Simone (Jazz Singer)

1943: David Geffen (Record Executive)

1949: Jerry Harrison (Keyboards & Guitar for The Talking Heads & The Modern Lovers)

1958: Mary Chapin Carpenter (Country Singer)

1961: Ranking Roger (Singer for The English Beat & General Public)

1967: Michael Ward (Guitar for The Wallflowers)

1970: Eric Wilson (Bass for Sublime)

1975: Wish Bone (Rapper with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony)

1986: Charlotte Church (Singer)

Events

1952: A 17-year-old Jerry Lee Lewis marries his first wife, preacher's daughter Dorothy Barton, in what is rumored to be a shotgun wedding.

1958: The first Flying V, a guitar by Gibson, was shipped from a factory in Kalamazoo, MI.

1964: A young pianist named Billy Joel joins his first rock band, a New York outfit called The Echoes, which specializes in covering the new "British Invasion" bands.

1970: The Jackson 5 made their television debut on ABC's American Bandstand.

1976: The Four Seasons finally score a UK #1 -- their first and last -- with their latest single, "December '63 (Oh What A Night)."

1981: Dolly Parton started a two week run at No.1 on the US charts with '9 to 5', the singers first No.1.

1981: Prince appeared on "Saturday Night Live" and performed "Party Up." It was his first appearance on the show.

1986: Pat Boone is the guest star (as himself) on tonight's "Beach Blanket Bounty" episode of NBC-TV's The Fall Guy.

1987: 26 years after becoming a hit in America, Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" becomes a #1 in the UK, following its release in the movie of the same name.

1987: Sly Stone was jailed on drug charges.

2001: Johnny Cash, recovering from pneumonia, is judged fit for release from a Nashville hospital so that he can attend this evening's Grammy ceremonies and pick up his statuette for Best Male Country Vocal Performance.

2001: Robbie Williams was attacked and thrown from the stage during a concert in Stuttgart, Germany after a man got onto the stage and pushed Williams into the security pit. The attacker was arrested and taken to a secure psychiatric clinic.

2008: In what is reported as one of eBay's most expensive sales yet, the online auction house brokers a deal between an unnamed US music collector and an unnamed Irish collector for three million albums and singles in various formats, for a grand total of about one dollar per item.

2008: Crystal Gayle is inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame.

2008: A computer expert was jailed for two years for electronically stalking Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington. Devon Townsend worked at a US national security laboratory in New Mexico, where she used a computer to track Bennington, she admitted to obtaining family photos, accessing e-mail and voicemail, and threatening his wife Talinda.

February 20

Births

1937: Nancy Wilson (Jazz Singer)

1946: J. Geils (Lead Guitar for J. Geils Band)

1950: Walter Becker (Guitar & Bass for Steely Dan)

1951: Randy California (Vocals & Guitar for Spirit)

1953: Poison Ivy (Kristy Wallace) (Vocals & Guitar for The Cramps)

1960: Kee Marcello (Guitar for Europe)

1963: Ian Brown (Lead Vocals for The Stone Roses)

1967: Kurt Cobain (Vocals & Guitar for Nirvana)

1972: Neil Primrose (Drummer for Travis)

1975: Brian Littrell (Singer in Backstreet Boys)

1981: Chris Thile (Mandolin for Nickel Creek)

1988: Rihanna (Robyn Rihanna Fenty) (Pop Singer)

Events

1949: A nine-year old Ricky Nelson joins the cast of his parents' NBC Radio show, The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet, replacing a child actor who'd been portraying him.

1958: Bill Haley and his Comets, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, The Everly Brothers and Jimmie Rodgers begin the "Big Gold Record Stars" tour in Florida.

1960: Jimi Hendrix makes his stage debut, playing guitar in the basement of Seattle's Temple De Hirsch synagogue. He is fired between sets for "showing off."

1974: Cher files for separation from husband Sonny Bono after ten years of marriage.

1976: KISS is invited to put their feet and handprints in the famous wet cement outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

1977: At tonight's Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Stevie Wonder cleans up with a Best Album win (Songs In The Key Of Life) and Best Vocal Performance ("I Wish"). Most infamous is the Best New Artist award for the Starland Vocal Band, of "Afternoon Delight" fame, which is sometimes cited as the beginning of that award's "curse" of quick anonymity.

1982: Singer Pat Benatar married musician-producer Neil Geraldo in Hawaii. It was Benatar's second marriage.

1996: Rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg and a bodyguard were found not guilty of first-degree murder. The jury was deadlocked on voluntary manslaughter charges resulting in a mistrial.

1996: Alan Jackson makes a guest appearance on "Home Improvement," singing "Mercury Blues" on the fictitious handyman show "Tool Time"

2007, The US hair salon where pop star Britney Spears shaved her head set up a website to auction her hair for more than $1m. The website, buybritneyshair.com, claims to have been set up by salon owner Esther Tognozzi and includes photos of the hair, saying it is "absolutely authentic". As well as the hair, the winning bidder will also get the hair clippers Spears used, a blue lighter she left at the salon and the can of Red Bull she was drinking at the time. Meanwhile, Spears has been spotted in Hollywood sporting a short blonde wig.

2008: Pink split from her husband Carey Hart following two years of marriage.